


lofty cries with trembling thighs

by noirheart (Flumes)



Series: your mojo witchcraft (honey it's working on me) [2]
Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Succubi & Incubi, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Demons, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Minor Violence, as in Ten tries to seduce Johnny in his dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 16:54:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17770628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flumes/pseuds/noirheart
Summary: Donghyuck shields the weapon with his hands. “What if a demon tries to eat me?”It’s not as bad as you might think, his tired mind supplies, and Johnny has to bite his cheek to stop himself from actually saying anything. Shining a torch down the corridor, light reflecting off the rows of lockers, he says instead, “Stay by my side. There’s a reason why we hunt together.”





	lofty cries with trembling thighs

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's! Have this fic that really belongs to some space between Valentine's and Halloween.
> 
> This was supposed to be funny/hot but instead turned into my usual brand of Angst™ proving I am a one trick hack. But, y'know, if you like a nice combo of action and romance like I do then please enjoy.

 

The first thing he notices is the shiver-inducing tickle of warm breath on his skin.

 

“You taste good,” says a voice, husky and sweet.

 

The second is the searing heat coursing through his body, threatening to burn him up from the inside. Sweat drips from his temple, hair damp. It should be disgusting but somehow it’s not.

 

“Can I taste some more?” He looks down, met with dark, dark dewy eyes and a pink mouth, tongue darting between his lips to draw Johnny’s gaze. Fingers dig into the flesh of his thighs, just shy of painful, but it only adds to his growing arousal, burning like a fire pit in his belly.

 

The third thing he notices is that this isn’t the first time he’s had this dream. It’s not the second, or the third. In fact, Johnny has long lost count. His fingers reach out to swipe over the boy’s lip before his brain can catch up and remind him that he shouldn’t. It’s always the same boy, sinewy and graceful and utterly sinful, the way his tongue flicks up to lick his fingers and he feels his body respond. It’s not real. He knows it’s not real because this boy is the perfect amalgamation of all his deepest fantasies wrapped up into one stunning package. He knows it’s not real because he wakes up far too frequently with a mess in his boxers like he’s still in high school, pimply and unsure of himself.

 

“Who are you?” he murmurs, as the boy ghosts his breath over a nipple.

 

The boy leans on his chest, narrowing his eyes. “I’ve already told you. I am Ten.”

 

“That’s not a real name.”

 

“Why is it any less real than yours?” The tilt of his head is unnatural. Almost animalistic.

 

Johnny doesn’t know what to say to that.

 

In response Ten smirks, eyes smouldering as he holds Johnny’s gaze. Then suddenly he’s ducking his head, marking a trail of wet open-mouthed kisses to Johnny’s quivering abdomen until he reaches his cock, pausing just to tease at the tip of his head. His tongue darts out to lick the ridge and Johnny groans, head flopping back on the pillow. “This isn’t real,” he he says, even though each agonising sensation feels too vivid not to be.

 

Ten opens his mouth but instead of words comes a shrill klaxon, jolting through him. Frowning, Johnny sits up, blinking heavy lids into his dimly lit bedroom, but there’s no boy on top of him, only the sheets twisted around his legs, telltale hard-on straining against his boxers.

 

“Good dream, hyung?”

 

Johnny jolts, nearly falling off the bed at seeing Jaehyun’s smirk loom from the side of his bed. Jaehyun sniggers, watching him struggle.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Call came. We have a monster to hunt,” he says, handing him a thermos of coffee. He looks far too fresh faced and perky for – Johnny checks his night stand – four in the fucking morning. He groans.

 

“Can’t the monsters wait for a couple of hours?”

 

“Sorry, man,” Jaehyun says, ripping off the sheets. “Monsters wait for no man.”

 

The hunt is enough to distract Johnny for a little while, as the coffee revitalises his sluggish body, but the thought never fully goes away, of the pretty boy with dark eyes and inky black hair and his soft, husky voice. There’s something more going on there, he thinks. More than a simple dream. But right now he has more to focus on because the hunt always comes first. Besides, it’s not like it’s really a problem per se. At least not one he’s particularly keen to be rid of.

 

*

 

It’s not a problem until it starts to become a problem. Not until Johnny sleeps his full eight hours and wakes up still exhausted, struggling to rise with his alarm clock, groaning when Jaehyun comes into his room and whacks him over the head with his pillow until he stumbles into the shower.

 

“You alright, hyung?” he asks one morning, when the bags under his eyes are particularly prominent, bruised and swollen.

 

Johnny prods at them and winces. “Just tired, I guess.”

 

“Nightmares?”

 

Johnny meets Jaehyun’s concerned gaze in the mirror and shakes his head, hands tight over the porcelain of the sink. It’s always been Jaehyun who gets the nightmares. But he doesn’t know how to tell him that the dreams he has are much, much sweeter. Not without looking like a complete pervert.

 

“I need to get laid,” he murmurs.

 

Jaehyun snorts. “Hell yeah, you do. But, like, after we deal with the hellmouth under the high school.”

 

Johnny tugs a messy lock of hair into place. It springs back up, stubborn. “Do you think maybe we should get some help?”

 

“Like… Taeil? I don’t know if he should be getting involved in this.”

 

“I mean, like another hunter? There’s only two of us. Might be safer to look for others to help out in case things take a bad turn.”

 

“You worry too much,” is what Jaehyun says.

 

 _I wouldn’t trust anyone else to have my back,_ is what Johnny hears.

 

“Alright, let’s just go.”

 

“Demons wait for no man,” says Jaehyun, slinging a bag of weapons over his shoulder, clanging together from within.

 

It’s dark out by the time they reach the high school, stars obscured by a thick blanket of cloud. Jaehyun calls fire to his palm to give them light, shining on the locked door they’re going to have to break into to get underground. Pulling out pliers from his bag, Jaehyun gets to work on the thick metal chain, while Johnny prises open the front lid of the security alarm and peers at the wires through heavy lids. He’s so tired he can’t think.

 

There’s a plink and then the chain clatters to the ground. “Can I open the door yet, hyung?” says Jaehyun.

 

“Give me a moment.” It’s like ever since he arrived the exhaustion has got worse, weighing down his limbs. His fingers slip on the wire several times and he hisses, grabbing it and pulling it out of frustration.

 

A loud, wailing alarm jolts him into alertness, stumbling back. He swears. Wrong wire.

 

“Fuck,” he says Jaehyun, grabbing his bag. “We have to run.”

 

Johnny staggers, the whole world spinning, and only manages to stay upright because Jaehyun catches him, ducking under his arm so that his weight falls onto his friend. Blinking into the darkness, he thinks he sees a silhouette in a distant street light, a strange buzz in his skull. But then he blinks again and the figure is gone, leaving him lost.

 

“You really don’t look good.”

 

“Don’t feel good.”

 

As they hobble away, a crash catches both of their attention, whirling to see a bag fall from a window on the second floor of the school. “If I fall I’m blaming you,” says a boy with a deep voice, dropping down to the ledge on the first floor, and then nimbly jumping to the ground. He looks up. “Donghyuck?”

 

Another boy pokes his head through the window. “It wasn’t me who set off the alarm!”

 

“Hurry up,” says the first boy, waving his hand.

 

Donghyuck sighs, swinging a leg over the sill and peering down dubiously. The protective instinct in Johnny stirs and he nudges Jaehyun towards him. “He’s going to hurt himself,” he mumbles. Then, because he’s not thinking clearly, hazy on sleep exhaustion, he shouts out, “Wait!”

 

The boy hanging halfway through the window starts and slips from his hold. Panic overriding the drowsiness, Johnny dashes over just in time for a lead weight to drop atop him, the two of them crumpling to the ground. He sits up, rubbing his head, and groans. His legs hurt, but he thinks he’s alright.

 

“Where did you come from?” squawks Donghyuck, rolling off of him and jumping to his feet. The flickering flame from Jaehyun’s palm reveals a young face with big dark eyes and fluffy hair.

 

“Are you still in high school?”

 

The other boy gestures to the building. “Can’t you read the sign at the entrance?”

 

Johnny rolls his eyes. “Alright, wise guy. What are you two doing breaking into your school?”

 

Donghyuck crosses his arms. “I could ask you the same thing.”

 

Jaehyun coughs. “As nice as this is, we really need to move.” The alarm is still blaring, a red light flashing above. A distant siren sounds from the road, all four heads turning in its direction.

 

“Right. Look, let us drop you off,” says Johnny, concerned. There are demons roaming around here at night.

 

Donghyuck wrinkles his nose. “We’re not going anywhere with you old pervs.”

 

Jaehyun looks like he would happily leave them but Johnny holds on. The police siren blares louder, close enough to be only moments away. Johnny raises his brows in question and the two boys look at one another before giving in with a sigh.

 

Donghyuck holds up a taser. “If you try anything I’ll zap you.”

 

“Jesus, you’re not driving anywhere,” Jaehyun says, throwing Johnny into the back seat, who flops out, boneless.

 

The nameless boy slides into the passenger side next to him, leaving Donghyuck to glare at him from across the back seat, leaning into the door as if Johnny’s going to poison him. He blinks, seeing flashing sirens through the trees, head thunking against the glass. Just before he closes his eyes he sees a dark shape once again, of a slender man. This time he doesn’t disappear, simply remains there, watching them as they ride off.

 

*

 

“They tell me not to touch you,” the voice whispers in his ear, “but I’ve never been very good at resisting.” Everywhere the soft pads of his fingers trail, they leave fire on his skin. “And there’s something so thrilling about tempting a hunter, you know?”

 

Johnny can’t move, can’t breathe. Each touch is excruciating, sending heat south at an alarming rate. He can’t stop the way his hips snap upwards when the boy – that same, maddening, hypnotising boy – reaches his hips, fingers digging into the flesh there. His nose follows his fingers, just the suggestion of something more, and it’s the restraint that pacts a powerful punch. It lets his imagination run wild, scenario after scenario racing through his mind faster than his thumping heartbeat.

 

The voice chuckles, heady and dark. “Who knew someone so pure could be so wicked?”

 

Johnny tilts his head, looks into black, penetrating eyes. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

 

The boy sighs, tapping his long fingers on his hip. “How many times will we have this conversation? I am Ten. Do try to keep up. For a hunter you are surprisingly slow.”

 

But Johnny is only slow because he has been sleep deprived for months, haunted by the phantom in his dreams. He licks dry lips. “Maybe I should ask instead, what are you?”

 

“Maybe you should.”

 

“Well?”

 

Ten blinks at him through heavy lidded eyes. “You’re the hunter. You tell me.”

 

He doesn’t mean to bring his hand up but before he knows it he’s tracing a fine jaw, thumb brushing soft lips. “Are you… an incubus? Or a succubus?” It doesn’t sound quite right.

 

Ten hums. “You humans and your contrite little norms. I am a lust demon and I do not care what you hold down here.” His hand rubs over Johnny’s crotch and Johnny groans.

 

“Why me?”

 

“It was just a coincidence. But who would have thought, the noble hunter so easily taken with a demon?” Ten rises back up, hovering over his face. He’s so close Johnny can feel his hot breaths against his face. His eyes shut on instinct, overwhelmed with the hands walking up his sternum, past his shoulders and into his hair. They tug lightly and it sends more heat directly to his cock.

 

“I need to sleep,” he grits out. It’s not what he wants but there’s a rational part of him still in there, somewhere.

 

“And I need sustenance,” Ten says just before he kisses him, stealing the breath from his lungs. His tongue licks past his lips, running across the roof of his mouth and Johnny jerks, desperately seeking friction for his erection.

 

He needs it. God, he needs Ten under him, over him, however it happens. His hands grasp his silky shirt and tug, pushing their bodies flush together in a long line. The weight of him pressing Johnny into the mattress is perfect. Ten chuckles into his ear, the vibration rumbling through his body, and Johnny’s trying to wrestle with their clothes when it occurs to him: this is a dream. He did not fall asleep wearing this shirt.

 

As soon as he thinks it it’s like he’s been doused with cold water, bringing some clarity back to him. He shoves Ten away. Ten, the demon. The demon haunting his dreams.

 

“No!” he cries and then jerks awake, breathing hard. He opens his eyes to the familiar sight of his bedroom, sweaty skin cooling as the sheets fall away, revealing the tent in his jeans. His whole body still tingles with the phantom pleasure of Ten’s touch.

 

Jaehyun must have put him to bed because he’s completely dressed, jacket and all. No wonder he had felt so hot. At least, that’s what he tells himself, staring at the same blank wall he’s always awoken to, feeling like it’s mocking him for being the same when everything else has changed. Even here, in the sanctuary of his bedroom, he no longer feels safe. How can he, when these creatures can find him even in the peace of his sleep?

 

There are voices coming from the next room, lighting spilling around a crack in the door. Splashing cold water onto his face until he calms down, reminding himself of where he is and what just happened, he counts to ten and then enters the living room, where warm light from the table lamp illuminates three figures.

 

Jaehyun glances up. “You’re awake.”

 

Johnny’s not too sure. His whole body feels sluggish, running on fumes. “I’m something.” He turns to the two boys sitting on their ratty couch, trying not to be swallowed by the squishy cushions.

 

“This is Mark and Donghyuck,” says Jaehyun. “They’re in their last year in high school and they’ve noticed all the strange goings on. Kids think they’re hunters, sneaking into the school at night time.”

 

“We’re not kids,” says Donghyuck in a whiny voice.

 

Mark just stares at them, eyes hard.

 

“American?” he says, curious.

 

“Canadian.”

 

“I do miss hearing English sometimes,” he says, and realises in that moment that Ten has only ever spoken to him in English. It sends a shudder down his spine but he can’t tell if it’s a good or bad feeling.

 

Mark perks up. “Yeah, me too. Most people here don’t get it.”

 

Donghyuck shoots him a look of betrayal.

 

Dragging over a dining chair, Johnny drapes himself over the back, resting his head against his arms because he doesn’t think he can hold it up much longer. “You know it’s dangerous to hunt demons without training, right? There’s a lot that can go wrong.”

 

“We’re not stupid,” says Mark.

 

“Explain jumping out a window, then?” says Jaehyun.

 

“We weren’t the ones who set off the alarm.”

 

“I’m going to be a hunter,” declares Donghyuck. “No one will listen to me when I say there’s something going on in there, so I’m going to deal with it.”

 

“On your own?”

 

Donghyuck narrows his eyes.

 

Johnny raises his palms, trying not to let his fondness bleed through and offend the boy. “I’m just saying, my buddy Jae and I are pretty experienced hunters. If you were looking to learn from someone, we could show you how to hunt safely.”

 

From the side he can feel Jaehyun’s gaze heavy on his. Mark bites his lip, gripping his thighs as he looks at Donghyuck. But Donghyuck looks startlingly defiant for a boy still growing out of the puppy fat on his cheeks.

 

“Why?”

 

Weary, Johnny sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “The two of us,” he says motioning to Jaehyun and himself, “have been through what you're experiencing. So if we can stop you going through what we did to get where we are now I’ll be happy.”

 

Donghyuck continues to stare at him like he can stare into his soul through his eyes. Finally, he nods. “Alright. You have a deal.”

 

When they shake hands, Donghyuck’s grip is firm, and it reminds him so much of Jaehyun in his younger years he can’t stop the smile.

 

*

 

“I’m not giving you a gun.”

 

Donghyuck’s pout is lethal and Johnny nearly caves. Nearly.

 

“How will I protect us then?”

 

Jaehyun pats him on the shoulder. “You have two big brothers here to look after you.”

 

“Plus, I haven’t reported you for that police issue taser,” Johnny adds.

 

Donghyuck shields the weapon with his hands. “What if a demon tries to eat me?”

 

 _It’s not as bad as you might think,_ his tired mind supplies, and Johnny has to bite his cheek to stop himself from actually saying anything. Shining a torch down the corridor, light reflecting off the rows of lockers, he says instead, “Stay by my side. There’s a reason why we hunt together.”

 

“The last time he went himself he nearly got himself eaten by a gumiho,” says Jaehyun snickering.

 

Donghyuck laughs, some of the tension bleeding from his shoulders. “Anyway you’re going the wrong way, hyung. The door to the basement is this way.”

 

“Lead the way.”

 

Johnny can tell Donghyuck is pleased to be the one to lead and he’s happier to watch the boy’s back, eyes roaming around them as they take a darkened staircase down to the floor below, the hum of electricity buzzing from a box next to the janitor’s closet they pass by. A broom propped against the wall makes him jump until the torch reveals it for what it is and he breathes a sigh of relief. He’s jumpy due to fatigue, prepared to protect the fearless kid in front from anything that might try to jump at them. His imagination is all too vivid these days, it seems, racing away from him.

 

Suddenly his torch begins to flicker and then sputters out. Donghyuck yelps and he stumbles into his back, muttering that he just replaced the batteries as he hits it repeatedly. It doesn’t come back on. A ball of flame throws a dancing light upon the far wall and Johnny turns to see Jaehyun, looking calm but focused.

 

“We’re getting close.”

 

In hindsight Johnny really should have realised his friend had magic. He’s always had a sense for the supernatural, detecting things before Johnny even knows they’re there. The difference this time is, even he feels the chill down his spine. Every hair stands on end and he swears he feels breath ghost the back of his neck.

 

A hand slips into his and he yanks his hand back with a yelp.

 

“Chill out,” Donghyuck says but Johnny can hear the embarrassment in his voice.

 

Guilty, he grabs his hand again. “Sorry. Got a little spooked.”

 

“Hey, look at this.” Jaehyun peels back a poster on the wall of a school event from ten years ago to reveal a black hole in the wall. He raises a fiery hand to the hole where two black beady eyes reflect the flames and three screams chorus together.

 

Johnny has his gun out in a flash but Jaehyun is closer, throwing a ball of fire at the creature as it scurries off into the darkness, nails clacking on the floor. Donghyuck’s grip on his hand is so tight he thinks he might lose circulation.

 

“You’ll burn the school down, you idiot,” says Johnny, tossing Jaehyun his other gun.

 

“Please do,” says Donghyuck, palm sweating beneath Johnny’s.

 

“Calm down,” says Jaehyun, unflappable as ever, “I’ve been training with Taeil. I can extinguish it pretty quickly, see?” He demonstrates by summoning another ball of flame to his palm. But before he can snuff it out, the flame reveals a dark shape creeping up on him, dark eyes shining, and Donghyuck lets loose another scream.

 

The light goes out. Everything turns to chaos. In the darkness Johnny hears Donghyuck’s footsteps ring out on the concrete floor and he takes off in his direction, concerned. He knows Jaehyun can watch his own back but the poor kid doesn’t have experience with demons and Johnny would be damned before he’d let him get hurt by a situation that he himself brought Donghyuck into.

 

“Donghyuck?” he calls. He pushes open the door at the top of the stairs, peering into the corridor. Across from him a poster advertising a dance competition flutters and he shuts the door behind him, propping his gun on his left hand. Moonlight spills through windows high above, painting the linoleum with silver. It washes out the colour, so that everything looks unnatural. Creepy.

 

There’s a creaking noise behind him and he whips around, heart racing, but there’s nothing there. Feeling stupid for getting worked up, he releases his tense hold and turns to walk back, only to see a dark shape far ahead of him. He jumps, heart skipping a beat, and raises his gun once more.

 

“Who’s there?”

 

Sweat is dripping down the back of his neck. It’s cold, even through the leather of his jacket.

 

The figure walks forward; a gentle, leisurely gait, like he has no care in the world. And he is a he, Johnny realises, as he steps into the silver light and a gasp falls from his lips. Wreathed in moonlight that kisses his silky skin, dark eyes drinking in the light, he looks like an angel from the heavens above. Or he would, if he didn’t look so damn sinful, leering at Johnny from beneath long lashes, lips shining.

 

“It’s you.” He takes a step backwards.

 

The man steps forwards. “I keep telling you,” he says, voice richer in real life than in his dreams. “My name is Ten.”

 

“Why – what – how are you here?”

 

Ten chuckles, titling his head so that the light sweeps over his jaw. “This is the demon’s lair. You are the one who came to me, this time.”

 

Johnny shakes his head. “No. No, I hunt your kind.”

 

Ten takes another step, so close he can see every line and angle of him in all its full glory. It’s unfair, how beautiful this man is. A finger reaches up, caresses his chest with a touch so light it’s but a whisper of what this man could do to him, before it stops over his heart. “You know I am different, don’t you? Your heart is racing.”

 

Johnny snatches his hand up, gulping at Ten’s smile. “I am not going to let you seduce me.”

 

“No?” Ten bats his lashes. “I do not think it will take much.”

 

He tries not to picture it. The images from his dream. Ten on his knees. Ten crawling over him, licking his lips with a satisfied smile. Moaning his name in his ear like he knows every single fantasy Johnny has ever had. It’s unfair. But that’s hell for you, he supposes.

 

Johnny pushes him away. “Why me?”

 

Ten shrugs. “Maybe I like you. Is that so hard to believe?”

 

And maybe he’s hit a nerve. Maybe Johnny knows he’s walking into a trap. But maybe he’s a little bit curious as to why this lust demon just has to have him. Why he’s the one. What makes Johnny, of all the people in the all of the world, special enough to warrant temptation from a demon of hell.

 

Using the advantage of his height, he crowds into Ten’s space. “What do you want from me?”

 

Ten does not look afraid. His eyes light up with delight. “I told you. I need sustenance. I cannot stay here, in this world, without food.” His finger touches his lip, glossy and tempting, and he smiles when he notices Johnny following his movements.

 

“Sex, you mean.”

 

“Yes.”

 

There’s so much more he wants to say. So much more he wants to ask. But a voice calls out his name from down the corridor, Jaehyun and Donghyuck catching his attention, and when he looks back Ten is gone. Disappointment washes over him and he’s not sure what to do with that feeling, so he paces back to the others, trying not to look guilty even though he hasn’t actually done anything.

 

“Where did you sneak off to?” says Jaehyun. “I thought a demon had got you.”

 

Johnny scoffs. “I followed a noise out here but I think it’s gone.”

 

“They’re everywhere!” Donghyuck claims, wide eyed. “I saw three demons!”

 

Jaehyun’s expression is more grim. “We need to come up with a game plan here. I think we’re going to need help.”

 

Johnny nods, trying to get his brain back on track. “Like magic help, or…?”

 

“Anything we can get.”

 

“Anything it is, then.”

 

Time for the round table.

 

*

 

“Johnny, Johnny, _Johnny,_ ” is whispered in his ear, tickling the sensitive skin there.

 

He already knows what he’ll see when he opens his eyes but it doesn’t prepare him for a very naked Ten sitting on his hips, his lithe, sinewy frame rippling with muscle as he grinds down. Johnny can’t stop the groan that rips from his throat, hands coming up to grab Ten’s waist and try to – help him, stop him, push him down. He doesn’t know. It’s hard to think when all the blood in his body is racing south, heat coiling tight inside him.

 

“You’re the devil.”

 

Ten bites his lip, somehow the perfect picture of coy even with his cock exposed, hard against Johnny’s hip. “Not _The_ devil,” he says.

 

It’s getting harder to hold Ten still when he’s relentlessly thrusting against him and Johnny’s only human; he can’t help the way his own hips answer. “You need to stop coming to me.”

 

“I must admit, I did not think you would hold out this long.” Ten tilts his head, studying him like he is a particularly fascinating puzzle. “Why are you trying to be so noble? What do you think it will gain you?”

 

“You are a demon!” he says, exasperation and frustration and lust rolled into one. He snatches up Ten’s wandering hands. A thought occurs to him, as he gazes deep into eyes as dark as a midnight sky. “You are a demon. Why do you bother with seduction if you can just take?”

 

Ten sits up, drawing both of his hands away as if burned. “I need consent,” he hisses, shaking his head. “I do not understand you, hunter. It is sex. It will be mutually fulfilling for both of us.”

 

Johnny doesn’t doubt that. “I can get laid pretty easily if I want.”

 

“I assure you none will be as good as me. I will ruin you for all other partners.” At Johnny’s look he sighs, a neutral expression dropping onto his face. “I need sex to survive in this world, Johnny. If not, I will be dragged back to down there.”

 

Something lurches in his chest and he hates himself for being so soft. Curses Ten for working out the right way to seduce him. Sensing his shift in emotion, Ten presses on, “You’re a hunter. You know how to defend yourself from demons. I need – I need you, Johnny.”

 

And those words are his kryptonite. Always have been. “What do you want from me?” he grits out, desperate.

 

Ten’s eyes are smouldering as they hold his in place, hands sliding down his chest. “Just let me do this for you. Just a taste, please.”

 

And Johnny’s so very, very tired. It’s been months since he’s had a proper night’s sleep. That’s the only excuse he can give for why he flops back, throwing his hands up in a defeated gesture. It’s not like he has gorgeous boys throwing themselves at him every day, even if they do happen to be demons. “Go to town, then. Just let me sleep.”

 

Leaning over him, Ten’s lips caress his ear. “It’ll be the best sleep you ever have,” he murmurs, words vibrating against his skin. Johnny shivers.

 

Then Ten is nosing down his neck, teething at his collarbones. Lower he goes, tongue lapping at a nipple, and his hands find their way to Ten’s hair as a jolt of pleasure makes his hips snap up. Dark eyes peek up at him, a small satisfied smile curving red lips. A pink tongue darts out to lap at it again, followed by nipping teeth, and he groans, grip tightening in soft locks. Thumbs dig into the flesh of his hipbones, kneading the flesh, and the combination of sensations is already too much, sweat dampening his skin.

 

“Stop holding yourself back,” Ten murmurs into his skin, kissing down his stomach until he gets to the top of his jeans. Jeans Johnny did not go to bed wearing. It’s briefly disorientating, to remember he’s dreaming, but he promptly forgets again when Ten hooks his fingers into his belt loops and drags them down until his cock springs free.

 

For a long moment there’s nothing but the sound of his breathing filling up the room, anticipation making him breathless, and then Ten wraps his hand around the base, tongue swirling around the head. Johnny lets out a long moan, hands scrabbling in the sheets, and Ten smirks as he opens up and swallows him down easily. It’s too much – too hot, too excruciatingly sweet – and his hips surge up into the suction of Ten’s mouth. Humming, Ten hollows out his cheeks, sucking down as he bobs his head, hand twisting around the place where his mouth can’t reach, and Johnny wants to be embarrassed by how rapidly his climax is approaching but there’s no room in his head for rational thought.

 

“Ten,” he breathes, cock twitching. “Ten, _please._ ”

 

Dark, dark eyes peek up at him from beneath a sweaty fringe of black hair as Ten’s other hand strokes his balls and it’s the combination that does him in, thrusting into Ten’s mouth as he releases with a strangled groan. Ten swallows him down before pulling off, licking up the excess, and he feels himself twitch painfully. But he’s too fucked out from one blow job, sagging against the pillows, completely spent.

 

Ten licks his lips, crawling back up. Johnny’s vision is fading, unable to keep himself awake. “Thank you for the meal. Sweat dreams, Johnny.”

 

And like that, Johnny falls into a deep and dreamless sleep.

 

*

 

Blinking awake, it takes Johnny a few minutes to process that he is in his room, light streaming in from the crack between his curtains. He’s groggy but as he sits up, he thinks that maybe he feels rested. Sated. Last night’s dream comes back in bits and pieces, sending a dull wave of pleasure through him at the thought, and he shakes his head with a laugh. There will be consequences, probably, but he’s too relieved to have slept to really care.

 

He has a shower and gets dressed – he has to be presentable if everyone is coming over today – and pads out to the living room, mumbling, “Hey, Jaehyun, can you get the coffee?” to the figure on the couch.

 

Then he stops dead. Unless Jaehyun dyed his hair black last night and changed body shape, the man on his couch isn’t his roommate. Johnny stumbles around the ratty leather piece of junk, eyes widening as Ten looks up at him and smiles. “I’m glad you slept well, Johnny.”

 

“You – you – you –”

 

The door to the next room opens, a sleepy Jaehyun scratching his head. “Did you forget I was on the late shift last night? I – oh.” Suddenly his sleepy eyes are wide open, swivelling from Johnny to Ten and back again. A grin replaces the look of confusion and uneasiness sinks in Johnny’s gut. “Hey, man, who’s this now?” He comes around to peer at Ten. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

 

“I’m not,” he says.

 

At the same time, Ten holds out a hand. “Hello, my name is Ten,” all perfectly polite in a sweet tone.

 

Jaehyun looks at him, mouthing a question, but he’s distracted by a knock at the door. Sensing the opportunity, Johnny grabs Ten’s arm and shoves him into the bedroom before anyone else sees him. “How did you get here?” he hisses, depositing Ten on the bed.

 

It is entirely the wrong thing to do. Ten spreads out his legs, leaning back on his hands with such a coy look it sends a lick of heat down to Johnny’s groin. “You gave me enough energy to physically manifest,” he says, as if it’s that simple.

 

But Johnny doesn’t have the time for explanations. “Stay there,” he commands. He doesn’t trust the teasing look in Ten’s eyes as he clicks the door shut, turning to see Taeil drop two shopping bags onto the kitchen counter.

 

“Hey,” he greets Johnny, startled when Jaehyun wraps his arms around his neck and rests his chin on his shoulder. “I thought I’d bring some snacks.”

 

“Sweet. Loving the hair, by the way.”

 

Taeil touches the ends of his fire truck red hair and grins. “Thank you.” He whirls on Jaehyun, smacking him lightly. “Get off me, you leech. Help me put this away.”

 

Johnny is just glad he’s enough of a distraction that Jaehyun doesn’t ask any more questions about Ten. But he knows that will only come later. Much later, when he’s had time to process the lust demon currently sprawled across his bed, while a group of hunters, mages and various others are due to turn up at his door in the next – he checks his watch – half an hour.

 

Leaving Jaehyun and Taeil, he enters his room again, finding Ten flipping through a novel that had been sitting on his night stand. At the sound of his steps, his head whips up to stare at him, quick reflexes reminding Johnny that this boy is a demon. Even if his eyes soften upon Johnny’s arrival, putting down the book so that he has Ten’s entire attention.

 

“You need to go back.”

 

“Go back?”

 

“To wherever you came from.” He waves his hand. “The dream world. Hell. I don’t know. But you can’t stay here.”

 

Ten shakes his head, hair falling around his forehead. “I’m not going back there. Not even you can make me do that.”

 

“You can’t stay here,” he repeats, more desperate as Ten stalks towards him. “I’m a hunter. I live with another hunter. You’re going to –”

 

He’s cut off by Ten grabbing the back of his neck and yanking him down into a kiss. His tongue probes at the seam of Johnny’s lips, kissing deeper and deeper until he’s stealing the very breath from him. Their hips align and he grips Ten’s waist, pulling him closer to feel the warmth of him against his body, overwhelmed by how it feels to have him in his arms; the solid weight of him. He moves like a dancer, liquid and graceful, arching under Johnny’s hands like he knows just how to turn him on.

 

It’s that thought that has him shoving Ten away, so hard that the boy stumbles and flops across the bed. “Stop trying to seduce me,” he says, crossing his arms. “You aren’t going to win that way.”

 

“No?” pouts Ten, looking up over the fan of dark lashes.

 

Johnny quashes the flare of arousal thrumming in his veins, calming his breathing. “No.”

 

Ten sits up, crossing his legs. He looks much younger this way. “I don’t want to go back. You don’t know what it’s like. The way the other demons try to rip each other apart. Please, Johnny.”

 

God, Ten already knows how to get to him. Johnny pinches the bridge of his nose. “But you can’t live with me. You’ll get discovered. Someone will try to kill you.”

 

Ten’s big dark eyes go even rounder. It’s excruciatingly innocent considering what Ten is. “I just want to be safe. I can’t go back to that.”

 

“We’ll work something out, alright?” he says, feeling his resolve drain through his fingers as Ten brightens. “Just stay put. Don’t let yourself be discovered. Keep your mouth shut, okay?”

 

Ten nods, looking more subdued than Johnny has seen him yet. He wants to say more but the doorbell rings and then there’s voices in his living room. Pointing his finger at Ten with a nod, he ducks back into the living room to see Donghyuck, trailed by a reluctant looking Mark. Donghyuck has settled into the demon hunting business like a duck to water but his older friend is far warier, only coming because he still doesn’t trust he or Jaehyun to look after his friend. Johnny understands and it makes him smile to see two close friends – brothers, in spirit – that remind him of his relationship with Jaehyun.

 

“Nice to you, bro,” he says, ruffling Donghyuck’s hair.

 

Donghyuck squawks, settling his hair back into place, but he looks pleased. Johnny grins, pouring him a drink of juice from Taeil’s spoils.

 

Next comes Irene and Seulgi, two fellow hunters he met some years back when a job he worked with Jaehyun had them crossing paths. He greets them warmly, quickly forgetting about Ten as he bustles about his increasingly busier living room to make sure everyone is settled, trying not to trip over bodies. By the time Doyoung arrives there’s barely room to move, Donghyuck tucked into Taeil’s side with Mark perched on the arm beside them, Seulgi and Irene on the other side. Doyoung pulls over a dining chair and he and Jaehyun settle on the floor. It’s warm with so many bodies packed into a small space, the sounds of chatter and the munching of snacks filling the room. He tries not to think about the demon chilling in his bedroom – the demon he let blow him the night before – and attributes the sweat rolling down his neck to the many bodies packed into the room.

 

“So,” begins Irene, all business as always, “the hellmouth beneath the high school? What’s our first plan of action going to be?”

 

“We could just leave it,” says Donghyuck. “It’s just a school.” Mark jabs him with his elbow and the pair fall into squabbles until Taeil pulls them apart.

 

“If we have more of us we could probably kill them all,” says Jaehyun and Johnny tries to ignore the funny flip in his gut. “Then we can seal it up once and for all.”

 

“I think it’s something that will need to be sealed up with magic if you want to make sure it doesn’t come back,” says Seulgi.

 

They look to Taeil who raises his palms. “That kind of spellwork is more Taeyong’s forte, I’m afraid. He would have come but he’s busy with the kids.”

 

Jaehyun leans forward on his thighs. “We could ask him to come on our next hunt.”

 

“That’s not a bad idea. If the hunters clear up the demons, Taeyong could seal the door completely and that will be that.”

 

Johnny frowns, scratching his head. “Is Taeyong powerful enough for that?”

 

“Doyoung and I can help him channel all that power if he directs us on what to do,” says Taeil.

 

“You want to come along?” Jaehyun turns to stare at him.

 

“I want to help you guys if I can. It doesn’t do anyone any good if demons are possessing the local high school.”

 

Their conversation fades into the background as soon as Johnny hears Irene says to Seulgi, “Do you sense something weird in here? It smells sort of funny.” His heart skips a beat.

 

“Ah,” he says, flailing when several pairs of eyes turn to him and his face burns. “Jaehyun was, uh, dissecting a demon in the living room.”

 

Mark wrinkles his nose. “Gross, dude.”

 

They seem to accept his explanation and he sighs a breath of relief when Jaehyun holds his hands up with a sheepish grin. “My bad.”

 

As the conversation starts to wind down, Johnny gets up and begins to usher everyone from his home, promising on a time to meet with Irene and Seulgi, and arranging for Taeil to drop off Donghyuck and Mark so that they’re not wandering the city by themselves at night. By the time the last of them is through the door he sinks against it, head thunking against the surface. The whole time he was supposed to be thinking about the hellmouth and he’s been too preoccupied with the demon in his bedroom.

 

“Hey, Johnny, what happened to Ten? Is he sticking around for dinner?”

 

“Uh,” he says. “I’ll, um, check.”

 

Jaehyun waggles his brows and he mimes gagging at him, hoping their shitty lamp disguises the flush on his cheeks. With a knock, Johnny ducks his head through the door. “You can come out now.”

 

No answer.

 

Johnny enters to an empty bedroom washed pale by the moonlight streaming through the window. His curtains flutter in the breeze but he doesn’t remember leaving the window open and he finds himself shivering with the sharp drop in temperature. There’s no real explanation for the disappointment he feels at seeing the man has gone but he can’t deny it’s the first feeling that hits him, as soon as he realises he’s alone. For a fleeting moment, he worries that Ten might not be safe, wherever he is, before his thoughts snap back into place and he remembers.

 

Ten is a demon. He has no business worrying about a demon.

 

*

 

“Johnny, Johnny, I’m hungry.”

 

Johnny blinks awake with a groan. The steady rhythm of ocean waves can be heard somewhere nearby, a gull cawing in the distance. Fully awake, he finds himself on crisp white sheets, the sun blinding as it shines through soft, billowy white curtains. A blue sky shines above, unlike the murky wintry sky he left behind in Seoul. He knows, before he even has to look around him, and he lets his head fall back onto a soft goosefeather pillow with a sigh.

 

“I can see why they call it temptation.”

 

There’s a warm puff of breath against his skin but he doesn’t open his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence every now and then.”

 

Johnny cracks open an eye and immediately wishes he hadn’t. Wreathed in a sunlight, Ten’s hair shines like a halo. Skin a warm honey gold, he lounges on the bed like he was made for it, dark eyes glancing up from a sweep of long lashes, lips tilted upwards in the slightest hint of a smile. It’s the kind of image that should be a spread in a magazine, or some kind of travel brochure maybe. Long limbs stretch out languidly, muscles shifting beneath a shirt of flowing cerulean blue. Johnny kind of just wants to lie in bliss and stare.

 

“Is there a reason you summoned me to paradise?”

 

“Can’t we have a little fun?”

 

“Hm.” Johnny rolls onto his stomach so he can look directly into Ten’s eyes. “Why did you disappear?”

 

Something flickers over Ten’s face but he quashes it so quickly Johnny almost thinks he had imagined it. “I need more food,” he says, gaze flicking to Johnny’s lips, and he feels the traitorous trickle of arousal making its way southwards.

 

“Why didn’t you just wait a little longer?”

 

Ten pouts. Damn him, it’s hard to resist.

 

“I don’t believe you just left of your own volition. What’s going on?”

 

With a sigh, Ten sits up. Even this motion is feline, body lithe and supple as he rolls onto his shins with his thighs spread outwards. “It’s getting a bit chaotic down there.”

 

“You mean in hell?”

 

Ten waves his hand. “You can call it what you want. But in that place… some of the demons are itching for an escape. It is not supposed to be allowed, unless you can prove you won’t draw attention to yourself, but someone discovered a way out and now there’s no way to control them.”

 

“The hellmouth.”

 

Ten nods. “The leaders amongst us are trying to fix things but others wish to overthrow them – to turn it into complete anarchy.”

 

“Meaning any demon can cross over? Even those who eat people?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And you?”

 

“I mean, I definitely eat people,” says Ten, waggling his brows until Johnny swats him playfully. “But I am of a different category than the type you would normally hunt. We are noble demons – those that can hide ourselves amongst humans for our own purposes. However, that means very little to these lower ranked demons who wish to do whatever they please, regardless of consequences.”

 

“Where do noble demons come from?”

 

“Around.”

 

“So why is it more difficult for you to travel?”

 

Ten sighs, rocking back on his hands. On his exhale, the light shifts suddenly to a dreamy sunset, bathing him in amber and gold. The mood tilts on its axis, something lodging in Johnny’s throat when he watches the sheer beauty of Ten tangled amongst the sheets. “With the gate so chaotic, it is difficult to pass through unless I have enough power to move at my own will. It requires a _lot_ of energy.”

 

“So I’m what, an ironic snack for you?”

 

A flash of teeth and then Ten is pouncing on him, rolling until he’s sprawled over Johnny. His eyes flicker before he grinds his hips down and Johnny’s hands jump to his hips, breathing becoming more laboured.

 

“It is delightful to seduce a hunter, I will admit. But you also offer a certain amount of safety.”

 

Johnny snorts, bafflingly endeared by Ten’s candour. He trails a hand down Ten’s side through the thin material of his shirt, feeling the warm skin and the shifting muscle beneath. Ten breathes into his mouth before grasping at his jaw and crashing their lips together, bringing their bodies together in a slow, heady rhythm until Johnny feels like he’s burning up, unable to do anything but cling to Ten.

 

He shouldn’t be indulging in this, he knows, but he just can’t seem to help himself. Especially in this hazy dream world, with soft glowing light streaking across the bed as the sky gradually darkens, the balmy breeze carrying the salty scent of the ocean. It really feels like its own little slice of paradise and Johnny is having a difficult time reminding himself that just because it isn’t real, doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences. Like him helping a demon.

 

“It’s dangerous if you keep coming to me,” he murmurs between open mouthed kisses, a hand running through Ten’s silky hair. “If other hunters discover you –” he chokes on his words when Ten noses his way down his stomach, pressing soft kisses to his navel as his hands move to Johnny’s belt.

 

Johnny covers his hands to stop him. “I mean it, Ten. They’ll shoot first and ask questions later. You won’t be safe.”

 

“I’m not safe down there, either.” Ten gazes up at him, eyes dark and impenetrable. “But I am a demon. I can protect myself.”

 

“Hm.” Johnny can’t help the slight disappointment when Ten sits up again, the mood broken by his warning.

 

“Besides, I didn’t think you were that worried about me. What would your friends say if they knew that –”

 

Johnny slams a hand over his mouth, giving him a warning look. Ten, the traitorous little rat that he is, kisses his palm, lips parting so his tongue can dart out and Johnny has to wrench his hand away with an exasperated sigh. It’s too much. It’s too much and it’s not enough and it’s driving him insane. Of all the people, why did Johnny Seo have to get picked by the damn lust demon?

 

A better man would put up more of a resistance but Johnny is just not a better man.

 

*

 

“What do you see?”

 

Johnny looks to Taeyong as the man studies the hole, his hand raised in front of him. His eyes are closed, Jaehyun’s firelight dancing across the slope of his cheekbones and his long dark lashes, brow creased in concentration. On the other side Donghyuck peers around him on the tips of his toes, wide eyed and curious. Johnny and Jaehyun exchange a look and then shrug. It’s not like Johnny knows anything about magic but apparently Jaehyun can’t sense anything beyond _wrong_ , either.

 

Suddenly as Taeyong sweeps his hand over the deep dark hole in the wall of the high school basement, a series of sigils begin to shine in a shimmering gold. Johnny can’t read them, and from his confused expression Jaehyun can’t either, but Taeil’s eyes scan across them with something like recognition. He murmurs beneath his breath, still concentrating, and Johnny begins to tire, leaning against the wall with his gun propped up and ready.

 

“The seal has been broken,” says Taeyong, eyes snapping open. “The magic is beyond anything I recognise. The spells used here are strange. More intricate than what I can do.”

 

Johnny looks at Taeil, who raises his palms. “Don’t look at me. If Taeyong doesn’t know how to, then I don’t have a chance. I have studied spellwork like this before. Sigils like these have cropped up through history, prompting many scholars to study their origin. They’ve appeared all over the world though, so no one can be sure where they come from.”

 

“You got a theory?”

 

Taeil points to the hole. “That’s not human magic.”

 

Taeyong nods. “I’ve never seen any human be able to create layers upon layers that somehow feed into one another and make each level of magic stronger. If such  intricate wards were destroyed like this, then I can’t imagine what powerful beings were being kept behind them.”

 

“Demons,” says Dongyuck, shuddering.

 

“I didn’t know demons could do magic,” says Jaehyun.

 

“There’s a lot we still don’t know about magic.” Johnny scratches at his head. “This is a bit of a wrench. Even if we stop the demons coming through, we need some way to seal the hole.”

 

Taeyong runs a hand through his hair. “I can work on it.”

 

“I’ll help you, if I can,” Taeil says. “I’ll enlist Doyoung’s help.”

 

“I have a few new students. One of them studied in Germany. He knows quite a lot about magical scripts. He might be able to help.”

 

“In the meantime we will need to safeguard the hole. If a seal on hell itself is broken…” Johnny tries not to think of what Ten had told him. He wonders what the others would say if they knew that he had been cavorting with a demon.

 

“We’ll sort out a rota so there’s some of us are here every night,” said Jaehyun. “The girls were willing to help us out. One of their young hunters still attends this high school.”

 

Johnny looks at Donghyuck, who scratches his head. “Must be that girl, Yerim. I thought I recognised Irene.”

 

“This is the best we can do for now.”

 

A feeling lingers in Johnny’s gut, that whatever this is it can’t end well for them, but he chooses not to speak. He’s seen too many things go wrong in his life as a hunter but dwelling on it isn’t going to help any of them. All they can do now is muddle through it together and hope it will be enough.

 

*

 

“You need to use your other hand to hold this one steady,” he says, standing behind Donghyuck. The kid’s so headstrong that there’s no stopping him picking up a weapon. If he’s going to do it, Johnny’s going to make sure he does it right. He’d rather this than him running off and hurting himself.

 

Donghyuck lines up the shot, squinting down the line of the target. _Bang._ The gunshot reverberates through the empty car park, embedding itself at the edge of the target Johnny had set up for him. The recoil sends him staggering back into Johnny’s arms, eyes round and lips parted. Then suddenly they curl into a smile. “Did you see that? I hit it!”

 

Johnny ruffles his hair. “You’re a natural.” Maybe he shouldn’t be encouraging this but he also knows what he was like at that age. There’d been no telling him then and there sure as hell is no way of telling Donghyuck now.

 

“Come on, that’s enough for tonight. We should head in before the police come knocking.”

 

“Aw, one more. Please?” Donghyuck’s pout is lethal.

 

“I’ll buy you dinner,” he says.

 

“Jajangmyeon?”

 

“If you want.”

 

Donghyuck bounces on his heels, bundling into Johnny and Jaehyun’s shared old beat up artefact of a car. Johnny treats him to jajangmyeon at their favourite little hole in the wall, not too far from his flat. Afterwards he drops Donghyuck off at home, watching him wave and scamper into the safety of the blazing lights of his home in the suburbs, and wonders what his parents think of his recent late night adventures. Do they wonder where he goes at night? Do they worry when they see an older man drop him off in his car?

 

Johnny’s hands tighten on the wheel. His parents have always been warm, caring people, even taking in a lost soul like Jaehyun when he had nowhere else to go, but it didn’t stop him from getting thrust into the world of the supernatural the day he accidentally stumbled on a vampire’s lair and was nearly eaten alive. There are things even Donghyuck’s parents cannot protect him from. Things that most don’t know lurk in the dark corners and alleyways of Seoul’s underbelly.

 

Maybe Donghyuck’s parents can’t protect the boy, but Johnny can. He’ll make sure of that much.

 

The flat is quiet when the door clicks shut, Jaehyun probably crashing at Taeil’s for the night. Johnny pulls a can of beer from the fridge and listens to the static hum of electricity, a rectangle of light spilling across the gloom of the living room. Sometimes he feels old, even though he hasn’t left his twenties yet. Sometimes he feels inexplicably lonely, despite the good people that surround him.

 

“I was wondering when you’d get back.”

 

Johnny whirls, condensation-slick can nearly sliding from his fingers. Half cut by the warm lamplight spilling from his bedroom, Ten looks more tangible than he has seemed yet, hair mussed and wavy, eyes heavy with sleep. He rubs at an eye, still holding the door in one hand. In one image is everything Johnny wants; someone to come home to after a long hunt leaves him empty, accepting of the life he leads without judgement. Someone who simply calls him to bed, as if it’s just that easy. It’s a cruel irony of his life, for who could understand him better than a demon?

 

“You’re still here,” he says, licking a drop of beer from his lips.

 

Ten catches the movement, eyes darkening. “I am.”

 

The hum of electricity sounds deafening in the silence that follows. “Why? Because you think I can protect you?”

 

Ten takes a step forward. The door creaks as his hand drops. “That’s part of the reason. Will you protect me?”

 

Johnny swallows. “Protecting people is what I do.”

 

Another step. “But I am not a person.”

 

“No.”

 

Another step, until there’s barely space between them. Ten is so lovely that it’s unfair. His fingers clench at his sides, itching to reach out and touch. Johnny has tried to be a good man all his life; he doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t know whether he’s weak for caving to Ten’s charms here – for being so easily seduced – or whether he he’s weak for not telling the others about him. For not voicing the little seed of doubt sprouting in his head, that maybe not all demons are bad. That maybe someone like Ten deserves to be protected.

 

“I am sorry.”

 

Johnny blinks, rearing back so he can study Ten’s calm expression. “Why? What did you do?”

 

“You are a good man, Johnny Seo. I think maybe I picked the wrong one to try and seduce.”

 

Something about those words leave him cold. He slumps over, resting his head on Ten’s shoulder. “No, you definitely didn’t. I want you so bad, even if I shouldn’t.”

 

A hand lands in his hair, feather soft. It strokes through his locks, lightly tugging. “What are you so afraid of?”

 

He pulls out of his grasp, so close to Ten’s face he can see his lashes flutter, feel hot breath on his lips. “You. I’m afraid of you.”

 

“You don’t have to be.”

 

Johnny’s hand curls around Ten’s bicep, feeling the lean muscle there. “Don’t I?”

 

“No.”

 

The next thing he knows he’s crashing their lips together, licking into Ten’s mouth as he backs them into the bedroom. Ten’s fingers clutch at his shirt, gasping into him and threading a leg between his so he can rub against his crotch. Johnny swears and pushes him onto the bed, breathless with a languid Ten sprawled across his bed, moonlight streaming across his face and turning his skin a shimmering silver. His eyes are impossibly dark, drinking in the light. A shiver runs through him.

 

“You want me and I want you. There is nothing wrong with this, Johnny.”

 

He pauses in yanking off his shirt. “You just want fed. This isn’t the same.”

 

A foot hooks around his thighs and tugs him in. “Isn’t it? It’s all hunger. It’s all pleasure.”

 

Johnny tosses his shirt, crawling over Ten until they’re face to face, inches from his lips. “There are a lot of things I want.”

 

Ten pushes back a lock of hair, tucking it behind his ear. “You want peace. You want those you care about to be safe. You want to not be lonely anymore.”

 

His breath catches. “I always wondered how people managed to get so caught up with lust demons. I thought…”

 

“You thought?”

 

Johnny traces red lips, swollen and slick with saliva. “I thought it was all just sex but it takes more for true seduction, doesn’t it?”

 

Ten looks surprised for a moment, brows rising. “Don’t overthink it.”

 

Johnny seals their mouths together, hand crawling beneath Ten’s shirt and up a warm, toned abdomen until he reaches his nipples. The body beneath him squirms, hips jerking up to grind against him. He’s almost fully hard now, heat rippling through him, but he’s also frustrated. Part of him wants to wreck Ten, just so he understands how it feels. So he understands how consumed he’s becoming so quickly in the half-lidded eyes and the clever hands and the sharp nips to his neck between heavy breaths. His hand trails lower, lower until he’s slipping beneath Ten’s waistband and gripping at his cock.

 

Ten stills and he immediately stops. “What’s wrong?”

 

“You don’t need to – I’m here to pleasure you.”

 

Johnny shakes his head. “Nu uh. This is an equal exchange, buddy. I pride myself on being a good lover.” He tests the waters by cupping his crotch over his jeans and smirks when Ten’s hips buck into the touch, a soft gasp falling from his lips.

 

“Please. I don’t get fed from my own release. It has to be another’s.”

 

Johnny hooks fingers around his waistband. “That’ll come. This part isn’t about being fed.” He tugs lightly, following Ten’s heated gaze. “But only if you want it. Would you like me to show you how it feels to be on the receiving end?”

 

There’s a pause, air sparking with electricity between them. Slowly, Ten nods.

 

Kissing his navel, Johnny delights in each shiver of his skin, noting the way Ten’s muscles clench. He can kind of see how he gets so much from pleasing others – Ten’s reactions are addictive, even more so than chasing his own release, almost. Tugging down his jeans and boxers, he noses at the cock that springs free. Then meeting that dark gaze, he licks a stripe up the shaft, lips curling when Ten whimpers. His mouth parts and then he’s swallowing down, sucking at him with hollowed cheeks, gaze meeting Ten’s. His own cock is heavy and hard in his jeans, rubbing almost painfully against the seam, but he can’t focus on anything but the rise and fall of Ten’s chest or the way his fingers scrabble in Johnny’s hair.

 

Humming, he picks up the pace, hand wrapped around the base to cover what his mouth can’t. Beneath him Ten writhes, a litany of delicious gasps and groans leaving him. “Johnny,” he says, breathless. “Johnny, please!” He’s practically vibrating beneath him, thighs clenching when Johnny fondles his balls and then he’s shooting down his throat with a drawn out groan, body tight as a bow string. He slumps down onto the sheets with a heavy chest, hair in disarray and limbs loose. He looks more sinful than Johnny’s ever seen him as he licks the salty taste of him from his lips with satisfaction.

 

“Good?”

 

Ten tilts his head so he can meet Johnny’s gaze. “You’re supposed to take pleasure from a pleasure demon.”

 

Johnny considers. “I guess I’ve always been a little different.”

 

“I’ll take care of you. Just – give me a minute.”

 

Johnny laughs, deep and delighted. “Take your time. I’ve got all night.”

 

Then he sprawls out beside Ten, ignoring the voice in his head that reminds him this is not a permanent arrangement. He can’t get used to a demon taking up space in his bed, or the heat radiating from him. Not the hand scratching gently through his scalp, or the soft, husky voice that leaves him weak. None of this is his but holy hell does he want it. He’s been thoroughly seduced by this enigmatic creature in his bed, and not in the way he ever expected to be. The round of enthusiastic and athletic sex that ensues afterwards is a bonus, true, but that’s not what he truly wants from Ten.

 

The moonlight softens his features, slack in slumber. Johnny resists touching, skin still flushed and sweaty and his heart hammering like a jackrabbit. He turns around so he doesn’t stare, ignoring the pang in his chest.

 

Johnny is so, so utterly fucked.

 

*

 

One night turns to two, then three. Johnny quickly loses count of how many times they go at it, feeling like a horny teenager as he takes Ten against the wall, or over the kitchen table, or in the bathtub, water sloshing onto the floor in waves as Ten’s long limbs stretch out, hands woven into his hair to control the pace. It’s better sex than he’s ever had, he can admit that. But it’s not just because Ten knows what he’s doing; knows just how to look up at Johnny from where his mouth is sealed around his cock. It’s the way they can laugh with one another as he hops on one leg to get his jeans off, or the way Ten goes soft and pliant under his hand, so surprised to receive pleasure in return. It’s the way he feels an old ache ease in his chest to wake up next to him, snoring softly into Johnny’s pillow. It’s feeling the loneliness subside, piece by piece, even as the clock ticks over him. Reminding him.

 

This won’t last.

 

“So you and that Ten, huh?”

 

Johnny shifts his weight and sighs, tempted to turn up the radio to drown out Jaehyun. There’s been no action tonight, anyway. They’ve been on shift at the high school all night, watching from the car park, and there’s not been a demon in sight.

 

“I’m glad. It’s been a while and you’ve seemed so quiet lately.”

 

Johnny glances at him, grimacing at the grin splitting his face. “And I’ve heard you two going at it like rabbits.”

 

Johnny splutters. “We’re not –”

 

“Save it, dude. It’s all good. I’m just glad you’re not doing your lone ranger thing anymore. You look happier.”

 

“I do?”

 

Jaehyun hums, nodding. Thankfully he cranks up the pop track on the radio, tapping the steering wheel to the beat. There’s a few minutes of blissful bass thrumming through him and Jaehun’s honey voice cracking on the high notes. They both look at one another and laugh.

 

“So does he live with us now or like?”

 

“He, uh, doesn’t have a place to stay right now.”

 

Jaehyun smirks and Johnny rolls his eyes but he can’t stop the smile spreading across his face. If Jaehyun is alright with it, it makes him feel a little bit more at ease. Of course he doesn’t know the truth about Ten, but it’s something. A start.

 

“Shit. What’s that?”

 

The door opens and then Jaehyun’s jumping out. Johnny catches eyes shining in the darkness and then he’s swearing, scrambling for his gun as he tears after his friend. A bright ball of fire lights up the dark, exploding outwards in crackling flame. The heat nearly scalds Johnny’s skin and he skids to a halt, sniffing at the stench of charcoaled demon.

 

“Sorry,” Jaehyun says, scratching at his neck. “I’m still working on my control.”

 

As the flames die and the smoke clears, he sees the burnt husk of a small goblin-like form. It’s not human the way Ten is but still, Johnny can’t help but draw the connection. He knows Ten is different, a more powerful type of demon that is not driven to hunt and kill, but that doesn’t stop him imagining his body lying on the ground, lifeless eyes staring at him through blackened, bubbling skin. He has to swallow the burn of vomit in his mouth.

 

“Hey, you alright?”

 

Johnny runs a hand through his hair. “Fine. Yeah.” He looks at Jaehyun, summoning a genuine smile. “We just have to seal this thing once and for all.”

 

“Yeah,” sighs Jaehyun. “We’ve been lucky so far.”

 

He takes another look at the demon corpse. “I’m not sure how long that’s going to last.”

 

*

 

Of course, it isn’t long before the first kid gets injured. A vicious bite that doesn’t stop bleeding, even when the blood congeals and blackens. The doctors don’t understand – want to take him in for endless testing – but Johnny steals into the hospital with Jaehyun and Doyoung, sneaking past the receptionist when she’s on the phone because visiting hours over. They steal scrubs and search the floors for the kid until they finally find his room.

 

A familiar head of golden brown hair is bowed over a boy lying in a hospital bed, hooked to an IV. Black veins run up and down the boy’s arms and neck and the skin is turning black around the nasty teeth marks piercing the meat of his tricep.

 

“What are you doing here at this hour?” says Johnny and watches Donghyuck jump.

 

“Uh, hyung. I was making sure Guanheng was okay.”

 

“It’s late.”

 

Dongyuck sticks his bottom lip out. “I know.”

 

He lands a hand on his shoulder and squeezes as Doyoung pulls a syringe from his bag. Donghyuck’s eyes widen, looking to Johnny, and Johnny doesn’t know how to feel about the trust he sees there when he nods, like he’s someone to follow. Someone to look up to. He doesn’t deserve that.

 

“What is that?”

 

Doyoung finishes injecting his serum in the wounded arm, gently placing it back down. “It’s one of my own potions. It will fight off the demonic infection. In time he should get better.”

 

“Should.”

 

“It’s proven successful so far.”

 

Donghyuck bites his lip, looking over the boy. “Things are getting out of control, aren’t they?”

 

“Yeah,” says Johnny, throat tight, “they are.”

 

“We should go,” says Jaehyun, standing at the door as he looks into the corridor. “It’d be no good for anyone if we all get thrown in jail.”

 

“Come on,” he says to Donghyuck. “I’ll take you home.”

 

“I don’t want to go, hyung.”

 

He looks to Jaehyun. Donghyuck is so brave that sometimes he forgets how young he is. Johnny remembers how scared and desperate he had been at that age, too – of course Donghyuck is afraid. So he nods. “All right, you can crash at mine.”

 

They stay up late, watching comedies because none of them can stomach horror. As Jaehyun gives up and heads off to his room with drooping eyelids and Donghyuck drops his head into Johnny’s lap, beginning to snore, a soft light spills from the crack in his bedroom door. He turns just as Ten peeks his head through, eyes dark and heavy lidded.

 

“How is he?” he asks.

 

Johnny strokes a hand through soft, wavy hair and smiles. “He’s good. He’s a strong kid, you know?”

 

Ten’s lips curve. “He’s learning from the best.”

 

Johnny isn’t sure why that’s the comment that undoes him, but it is. He can feel the blush running up his neck, flooding his cheeks. As they remain like that, staring at one another from across the space of his living room with nothing but the hum of the television in the background, Johnny feels this deep ache carve its way into his chest. He wants, more than anything he’s ever wanted in his life. Not the sex, nor the physicality, as much as he enjoys that.

 

He just wants Ten, in every shape and form of him. The few feet he stands from him feel like miles, insurmountable and lengthening by the second. The clock ticks on the wall.

 

“Everything alright?”

 

Johnny blinks away the visions his mind has conjured, of sunny mornings making toast and coffee, kissing Ten’s head and watching Jaehyun gag at their domesticity. He hopes Ten isn’t the kind of demon that can read minds.

 

“Yeah,” he says, voice hoarse. “I’m just worried. Things are getting worse by the day. Innocent kids are getting hurt.”

 

“We’ll save them, Johnny. Come to bed. You need sleep if you’re going to be a big hero.”

 

And maybe it makes him weak but Johnny folds into Ten’s arms with exhaustion. For the first time since they started sharing a bed he falls asleep like that, limbs tangled together and sharing one another’s warmth.

 

When he awakens to the grey light of dawn the covers have been flipped on the other side. Ten is gone. Johnny swallows around the lump in his throat and pushes his way out of bed. He has no time to well in his disappointment. Not when Seoul is at stake.

 

*

 

“I think I’ve managed to come up with some kind of spell.” Taeyong scratches his head, flicking through a black notebook of symbols Johnny doesn’t really recognise. “It’s not perfect because I don’t really understand the demon’s language but it’s something.”

 

“No, that’s definitely right. I told you.”

 

Johnny eyes the kid perched on Taeyong’s coffee table, dark eyes flicking between the two of them confidently. He hooks a thumb at him and says, “Who’s the new Taeil clone?”

 

Taeyong laughs and quickly covers it with a cough at the boy’s pout. “This is Yangyang. He came from Germany and he specialises in magical linguistics. He’s pretty good.”

 

Jaehyun still looks disturbed, gaze flicking from Taeil to Yangyang and back again.

 

“Hey, look at that. I think he’s taller than you,” Johnny says to Taeil who scrunches up his face in response.

 

“You know I’ve been staying up most nights trying to help him with this, don’t you? I mean, I can leave you to it if you think you don’t need my help…” 

 

True to his words, Taeil looks exhausted, eyes ringed with shadows. Johnny winces, even though he probably doesn’t look any better. “We appreciate it, you know.”

 

“I know.”

 

“But you can’t do demon magic,” interjects Yangyang. “None of you will be able to seal the hole without demon blood.”

 

They all glance at one another. Taeyong eyes his student curiously, his cross earring dangling in the light. “How do you know this?”

 

Yangyang seems to realise what he’s said, shoulders hunching. “I, uh, read a lot about it.”

 

“From where? Demons are us dot com?” says Jaehyun.

 

“Just trust me, all right? You can’t complete this spell without it.”

 

“Well, what are we going to do now? Do you think we could grab one from the hole and cut it open?” says Jaehyun.

 

Taeil shudders. “Ew.”

 

An idea is forming in Johnny’s head. A very, very bad idea. There would be no way to explain it to the others – the fact that he happens to know a demon. Biblically, one might say. There also remains the strange reluctance he has to ask Ten to go anywhere near that hole, out of this strange protective urge he apparently can’t shake.

 

Taeyong, ever perceptive, seems to notice. “Johnny?”

 

He shakes his head, feeling several pairs of eyes on him. “It’s nothing. Seriously. I’m just thinking.”

 

“We can work with this,” Jaehyun. “Do you think the two of you will be able to handle the magic?”

 

Taeyong and Taeil share a tentative look and nod. Johnny eyes the scribbles of Taeyong’s handwriting and sighs. He’s going to have to ask.

 

He just hopes Ten will understand.

 

*

 

“Your head’s not in this, is it?”

 

Ten asks this from where he’s stretched around Johnny’s cock, grinding his hips down in maddening little circles that send excruciating bursts of pleasure through him but are never enough to bring him to the edge. His fingers grip tight onto the flesh of his thighs and he grunts. “More than just the head.”

 

Swatting at him, Ten rocks into him with a huff of breath. The muscles of his abdomen ripple and flex, collarbones sharp and littered with purple bruises. “I mean it. What’s going on with you?”

 

Johnny grips Ten’s cock in his fist, savouring Ten’s pants into his mouth. “It’s nothing,” he says in between his kisses, flipping them so he can press Ten into the mattress. Nails rake down his back and he shudders, biting at that long stretch of neck arched for him to taste.

 

“So impatient,” Ten scolds, picking up the pace to match the frantic snap of Johnny’s hips. “Something’s got you on edge.”

 

“Fuck, Ten,” he gasps, losing control of his rhythm in his desperation for release. The heat is too much. It’s not enough. He’s so close he’s nearly sobbing, hands on Ten’s thighs, his ass, his hair.

 

“Come for me, Johnny. Come on.”

 

Those words whispered in his ear send a shiver through his entire body and he slams into the hilt, groaning as he releases. He slumps against Ten in a sweaty heap, taking a moment to catch his breath before he pulls out. “Lie back,” he murmurs, kissing his way down his navel until he reaches his swollen cock, enjoying the way fingers weave into his hair when he sucks down.

 

“Johnny,” he hears, like a prayer on Ten’s lips. “Johnny, _Johnny._ ” Over and over and over until Ten tenses up and comes in his mouth, hands still locked tight in his hair. Johnny licks him clean and rolls over, grinning at him out of the corner of his eye.

 

Ten’s answering smile is so soft it aches in his chest. He wants to take a picture so he can capture the moment forever – the way sunlight shines across marble cheekbones and the honey warm skin, gleaming with sweat. The rise and fall of his chest, so deceivingly human, and the glint in his eye, like he knows all the secrets of the world. His finger reaches out before he can stop himself, to trace the bow of his lip, utterly mesmerised.

 

Ten swipes out with his tongue and he snorts. “Are you finally going to say it?”

 

“Say what?”

 

“Whatever it is that’s eating you up.”

 

Ten’s too sly, getting him all warm and sated and boneless before interrogating him, knowing Johnny is too weak to resist his persistence. He leans a chin on his arm and says, “I may need your help to seal the hole of the hellmouth.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“You can say no. It’s just, apparently we need demon blood to complete the spell and I know you don’t want to go back there but I’ll make sure –”

 

“Okay.”

 

“– and I completely get – oh, you said okay.”

 

Ten sweeps a lock of hair off his forehead. “I’ll help you, Johnny. Whatever it takes.”

 

His heart lodges in his throat and it’s not because of how Ten looks, comfortably naked and sprawled across his sheets, musky sweet with the smell of sex. “Thank you.”

 

Ten just smiles.

 

*

 

Johnny wakes up all at once but he doesn’t have the energy to get up. The bed next to him is empty and he flops his head back onto the pillow with a sigh, too many thoughts running through his head. It takes him at least half an hour before the smell of coffee wafting from the kitchen drags him from bed, dressed in yesterday’s clothes of jeans and a hoodie, and he pours himself a mug. It’s dark and bitter but he’s too lazy to find milk and he’s pretty sure they ran out of sugar. Bitter it is.

 

From the window the sky is overcast, clouds gathering into a dark, ominous line on the horizon. He drops the remote three times before he manages to wrangle the TV on, feeling strange and sluggish. A sense of wrongness has settled into his bones and he can’t shake the feeling, like he’s supposed to be somewhere but he can’t remember where. Like he’s running late but he’s not sure what for, checking his phone to find it free of messages. The shower hisses from the bathroom – Jaehyun, probably just in from the night shift.

 

When the call comes, Johnny can reasonably say he’s expecting it. Goosebumps run down his arm before he can slide to answer, voice hoarse on his tentative, “Hello?”

 

“Hyung? Is that you?”

 

It’s Donghyuck. “What’s wrong?”

 

“We need you, hyung. The demons… they’re everywhere. Everyone is running away but there’s too many.”

 

“I’m on my way.”

 

“I think the hole is getting bigger. It’s huge and there’s just so many demons.”

 

“Donghyuck,” he says, “get out of there. Stay away from the hellmouth. I’m coming and I’m going to fix this.” He doesn’t have a plan but he’s not going to worry Donghyuck. Not when his school is apparently overrun.

 

Johnny manages to do multiple things at once. He shrugs on his jacket, hopping into his shoes on his way to the bathroom, snatching up his bag of weapons as he goes. Ripping back the curtain to a shocked Jaehyun, he needs only give his partner a look for him to understand. Jaehyun’s expression sobers and then he’s jumping out, pulling jeans on without even bothering to dry.

 

“What’s the deal?”

 

Johnny tosses him his phone as he snatches up his car keys. “Apocalypse at the high school. Call everyone around. We need to move quick.”

 

The engine hums beneath him, Jaehyun’s voice white noise in the background of his racing thoughts as he slams on the gas, uncaring if he runs a red light at this point. The only image racing through his mind is those poor kids, mauled to death by demons just because Johnny was too much of a coward to admit he’s been fucking a demon all this time. If only they had investigated quicker. If only they had come up with a spell faster. If only, if only, _if only,_ loops through his head like a broken tape.

 

“Whoa, slow down!”

 

Johnny mashes the brake as a wide eyed child runs in front of them, too dazed in the car headlights to do anything but stumble onto the pavement on the other side and stagger away. Johnny grits his teeth and follows, spinning into the car park and not bothering with where he ends up. There’s a gun in each hand as he kicks the door open and runs out, fighting against the trickle of screaming students making their way from the open doors. Inside he can see shadowy shapes, hints of fangs and teeth. On such a dark, overcast day the daylight will barely bother the demons.

 

“Hope you’ve been practising,” he says to Jaehyun as he enters to an eerily empty corridor, not a sign of movement.

 

Beside him Jaehyun holds a ball of fire between his palms. “I’ve been trying my best.”

 

“We need to find Donghyuck –” before he can finish his sentence he turns to gleaming rows upon rows of teeth and shoots the demon in mid air, splattering blood and gore across the far wall. The smell is foul, like rotting eggs and overcooked meat.

 

Jaehyun curses, throwing a ball of fire at another of the grotesque creatures and it lets out such a ghastly shriek that it nearly distracts Johnny, quickly finding himself surrounded. Back to back the two of them put down demon after demon, his hands vibrating with the recoil off his gun and sweat dripping down his neck from the proximity to Jaehyun’s fire. One of the creatures lands a hit on him and he swerves out of the way of its second strike with a cry of pain, blood dripping from the gash.

 

A powerful blast of heat whips past his face and suddenly the last four demons are smouldering on the ground in cinders. Jaehyun has come a long way. “You alright?” he says through pants of breath.

 

“Fine. Let’s go.”

 

They wander further down the corridor, turning to walk past a row of lockers. Everything looks creepy when so weirdly quiet, bloody palm prints on one wall making his heart leap. Johnny picks up his pace, jogging towards the staircase that leads down to the basement level. He can hear shouts and the horrible high-pitched warble of the demons. One comes flying for him and he shoots it in the face in the nick of time, the wound on his arm throbbing.

 

As he passes the janitor’s closest the next thing he sees has his heart in his throat. Donghyuck and Mark are backed against the far wall, surrounded by a swathe of demons climbing over one another in an effort to get to them. Mark swings a baseball bat into the fray, knocking several back into the gaping hole of the hellmouth with sprays of blood. Donghyuck shoots at any who come too close, gun in one hand and taser in the other. His face is streaked with red.

 

Johnny dives into the horde without thinking, one gun holstered so he can hack into them with a sword he picked up on a job a few years back. Heads roll, followed by the shriek of yet more demons clambering over their bodies. He soon cuts his way towards Mark and Donghyuck until he too is pressed against the wall. The demons continue to spill from the hellmouth in an endless stream.

 

“We can’t stop them!” shouts Donghyuck. “There’s too many.”

 

Mark drives his bat into a demon’s face, hitting again and again until the corpse is nothing but a pile of gore. The looks on both boys’ faces says it all: the situation is hopeless. If they can’t stop the demons here they’ll escape out and destroy all of Seoul in their wake. But Johnny can’t see how they can possibly fight back against the sheer number of them, struggling to keep at bay so many scratching claws and gnashing teeth.

 

“Duck!” shouts Jaehyun and his implicit trust has him ducking before he can think to ask. A wave of burning hot fire extends over his head, a chorus of shrill cries resounding around him, the sound so horrible he has to clasp his hands over his ears. The smell of burning flesh is overwhelming.

 

“We’re fucked,” says Mark helpfully but he continues to swing away, even as the demons close in.

 

Johnny doesn’t want to agree with him, only he kind of does.

 

Then suddenly another shot rings out, the demon pouncing for Jaehyun’s head suddenly crashing to the floor. Johnny feels his heart soar at the sight of Seulgi and Irene, guns at the ready. Seulgi nods before she’s spinning around, knife out to slash through as many demons as possible. Johnny’s so immensely grateful to them in this moment he could weep.

 

Demon after demon falls but still more keep pouring from the rift. Even with the girls helping them fight back the tide, they can’t stop anything if the hellmouth remains open. He shoves his way into the horde to Donghyuck screaming his name, sword cutting through the claws and fangs tearing at his clothes and skin. Black blood coats him, itchy and uncomfortable, but he ignores it in favour of lobbing off another head, pushing so that he’s back to back with Seulgi, breathing hard.

 

“Where’s Taeyong?”

 

“On his way. We just need to hold off for him coming.”

 

Johnny nods. His body is flagging, growing tired, but they can’t afford to stop. He slashes and ducks out of the way, arms heavy and muscles aching. His eardrums pound with the sound of gunshot after gunshot from Seulgi’s pistol, the air stinking of demon blood. It seems impossible that there can be more demons surging outwards when they’re practically climbing atop their bodies now. They squish beneath his shoes but he can’t afford any squeamishness.

 

“Johnny!”

 

The sight of Taeyong and Taeil at the top of the stairs has him nearly sagging in relief. “I’ll clear you a path!” he shouts, cutting through demons until he reaches the bottom step, reaching a hand out to yank Taeyong down the rest of the way, Taeil on his heels with wide, nervous eyes. “Come on, this way!”

 

It’s all Johnny can do to keep fighting them back, guarding Taeyong and Taeil as they link hands and begin to work on their spell, air humming with magic. Jaehyun joins him, sending blasts of fire into the swathes of beady eyes and growling voices. Each ball of blame is smaller than last. Like the rest of them, Jaehyun is tiring. But he fights on.

 

“How’s the spell going?”

 

Taeyong’s head is bowed over the hole, symbols glowing a bright, shimmering gold on the wall around the hellmouth. Taeil turns with a grimace, “It’s so strong. It’s like the magic is fighting us.” His knuckles are white, fingers wrapped around Taeyong’s glowing hand.

 

It’s not enough. All the preparation, every hunter and mage they know gathered around them, and still they can’t seem to stop the rippling tide of demons. If they don’t stop them they’ll quickly eat up Seoul and beyond, turning the country into their own hell. Johnny’s resolve is quickly draining through his fingers, slipping out of his grasp. He’s weakening and he’s not sure how much more he can even take. Failure looms over his head, crushing him down with the pressure.

 

Someone yells out in pain and then Donghyuck cries, “Mark!”

 

It’s enough to distract him and then he feels red hot pain as claws rake across his chest, aiming for his throat. A thundering gunshot knocks it off him and he looks up, giving a short nod to a gore stained Irene. She nods back and continues, gun in each hand like some grim reaper out for vengeance. Johnny slashes once again, his movements sloppy and uncoordinated but determined not to let his friends down despite the likelihood that in the end it won’t matter.

 

“Johnny! Johnny, where are you?”

 

Suddenly the rest of the room strips away as Ten races down the stairs. Dread sinks in his gut and he shakes his head, trying to find the words. Not Ten, too. They can’t take Ten as well. He fights through the swarming demons to get to Ten, who’s breathing hard. His eyes are as black as the hole in the wall, horns protruding from his curling black hair.

 

“What –”

 

“There’s no time.” Ten shoves him aside and he’s so weak he nearly falls. The demons don’t even seem to affect him at all; he walks serenely through the horde like he’s a prince amongst them. From what he has told Johnny, he probably is. All he can do is watch as Ten reaches the hole, dipping into his shirt for something shiny. A knife.

 

“No! Ten, wait!”

 

Ten doesn’t hear, or doesn’t want to. He cuts his palm until black blood wells up, using it to smear against the wall. Taeyong and Taeil stare as he scrawls through the gold writing in his own blood, his own symbols beginning to glow. He turns then, with one last look for Johnny. It’s like time stops and he can’t breathe, can’t move, his heart silent in his chest.

 

Then he turns back and leaps through the hole.

 

“Ten!” Johnny screams as a bright gold light shines from within. There’s a horrible tearing noise, the demons shrieking in a cacophony of pain, and then the hole gradually knits together before his eyes until there’s nothing but a cracked line where it used to be. The remnants of smeared blood circle around smooth plaster and paint.

 

One by one the remaining demons drop dead, bodies shrivelled and silent. Johnny’s chest heaves, feeling like he might throw up as his weary party all look at one another, one by one. Suddenly a sob rips from his chest as he realises what has happened, running to the unbroken wall and smacking a fist against it. Pain cracks up his knuckles but he doesn’t care.

 

“Ten!” he shouts. “Ten, come back!”

 

The wall remains silent.

 

As his friends gather around him, broken and bloodstained, Johnny sinks to his knees and finally lets exhaustion capture him. Ten is gone. Ten just sacrificed himself for the rest of them, despite how much he had hated the world that he had come from. He leans his head against the wall and closes his eyes, feeling wrecked. 

 

Ten is gone and it’s only now that he realises just how much he loves him. 

 

*

 

Life goes on. They don’t talk about it; the fact that Johnny had been shacking up with a demon. Johnny retreats from hunting, taking up research in the library’s supernatural section of Taeil’s university. He pretends he doesn’t see the looks Taeil and Jaehyun give him and ignores offers to help out with Taeyong’s students to give him a distraction, becoming a hermit chained to a desk and his endless stack of books. There’s a way to bring Ten back. There has to be a way.

 

“Hey, hyung.”

 

Johnny blinks, eyes refocusing from lines of text. “I told you I don’t want – oh.”

 

It’s Donghyuck hovering in the doorway, worrying his oversized shirt between his hands. “How – how are you doing?”

 

Johnny folds over his book and pats the empty seat beside him. “Never too busy for my favourite dongsaeng.”

 

Donghyuck snorts but he trots over with a smile tugging at his lips. “You haven’t been answering my texts.”

 

Johnny sighs. “I know. I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s alright. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright. I know it’s been a rough few weeks for you.”

 

“It’s been, well, I suppose it has.” His voice is hoarse when he attempts a laugh, the sound foreign to his ears. “I guess they sent you as my intervention because they knew I couldn’t turn you down.”

 

Donghyuck flashes him a winning smile. “Is it working?”

 

Johnny caves and ruffles his hair. “Come on, I’ll buy you lunch.”

 

They settle in a cafe near the university campus, the smell of coffee cozy and pleasant in contrast to the heavy rain pounding outside. Johnny watches it run down the window as Donghyuck bites into a giant cookie.

 

“I didn’t just come here for free food, you know.”

 

“I know.”

 

The rain creates a pleasant buffer. Chatter from the patrons around them means they don’t sit in silence while they think of words to say. They both begin at once, petering out with awkward laughter, and Johnny gestures to Donghyuck as he sips his coffee. It’s bitter, unfurling in his veins and helping to rouse him from the permanent slumber he’s been under lately.

 

“You really loved him, didn’t you, hyung?”

 

Johnny blinks, grip tightening on the handle of his mug, but there’s no judgement in Donghyuck’s eyes. “Yeah,” he says finally. “I did.”

 

“He saved us all. I think he did it for you.”

 

His belly knots itself. “I wish he hadn’t.”

 

“I know. But at least you know he loved you, too.”

 

Something prickles in his eyes. Tears. Johnny smiles despite himself. Here he’s been moping about all that he’s lost and he’s forgotten all that he already has. Ten wouldn’t want him to be moping around like this – not when he has others to care for. Others who will keep him going through the ache in his chest. Through the crushing loneliness of cold sheets and an empty bed.

 

“You want me to train you again, don’t you?”

 

Donghyuck squirms, looking guilty, but then his expression steels and Johnny glimpses the man he’s going to become. “Yeah. If something like this happens again, I want to be ready for it.” Donghyuck lost classmates in that fight. Lost a teacher. He should be running from it all, as young as he is, but somehow he’s still fighting stronger than ever. It’s enough to bolster Johnny’s own resolve.

 

“Okay.”

 

“Okay?”

 

“Okay.” Johnny surveys his earnest expression. “But we take it slow this time. No running off without me. You’ve seen how dangerous this world can be.”

 

Donghyuck nods, eyes big and dark and hopeful. It reminds Johnny that there is still joy in this world. Still hope to be found. He just has to keep fighting. “I’ll take this seriously, hyung, I promise.”

 

“I know you will.”

 

And just like that, two months after the hellmouth incident, Johnny takes up hunting again.

 

*

 

Sometimes in his dreams he sees him. Distant shadows out of the corner of his eye. A fluid form dancing through flame, dripping black silk. He catches dark eyes and the whisper of a touch and his name breathed through a familiar set of lips and then he’s launched from sleep, gasping and sweating in his bedroom. Then Johnny will fling himself from bed with a curse and pace the living room with coffee brewing until Jaehyun gets in from the night shift, taking one look at him and eyes softening in sympathy.

 

If Johnny spends more nights hunting than sleeping, Jaehyun doesn’t judge. If he lumbers about during the day with eyes steeped in shadow and heavy lids, no one dares say anything, as if they know he’s a bowstring about to snap.

 

Life goes on. Ten is never there when he wakes up, the side of the bed he used to sleep on tauntingly empty.

 

*

 

“Do you know why I chose you?”

 

It’s not a memory but the dream is anchored in one. Johnny rolls his head on his arm, drinking in a naked Ten sprawled across his bed like he owns it. And he does, because nothing else has ever looked so good there, dark eyes twinkling and lips curling with just the hint of a mile, like he knows. Knows that everything hangs on his next words. That they could make or break Johnny, who’s holding his breath even as he pretends to tilt his head casually.

 

“Why, then? What does a lust demon look for in a man?”

 

“Loneliness.”

 

The words had been a punch to the gut then and they’re like a hand reaching into his chest and ripping his heart out now. Johnny opens his mouth, closes it again, and then opens it once more. No words find him and Ten laughs, pointing at his furrowing brow. He leans forward, breath warm on his face, and nuzzles his forehead. It’s so intimate he wants to grab Ten into his arms and hold him close but he doesn’t dare.

 

“I don’t feel lonely when I’m with you.”

 

Ten’s shift is expression is gradual, sobering so quietly it’s hard to spot. “I’m just a warm body, Johnny. This is just a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

 

His fingers skim over smooth golden skin covering the muscles of his back, knuckles brushing the knobs of Ten’s spine. Moving poetry, he is; the construction of his joints and limbs like lines of verse. “You know you’re more than that.” He doesn’t add the, _to me,_ but it hangs in the air between them.

 

Ten huffs. “Of course. You don’t become a noble demon without a few tricks up your sleeve, you know.”

 

“Mm.”

 

The sunlight warms him until his form is shining, more angel than demon in this moment. “I’m not lonely when I’m with you, either.”

 

Johnny sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth. The sun shifts behind a cloud. Ten’s expression morphs into something dark, more sensuous, and suddenly he’s all predator once more as he leans over Johnny for a kiss. He licks past his lips, their breaths mingling, and then he’s rolling his hips down until Johnny’s groaning with the friction.

 

“Let’s be not lonely together.”

 

And that’s a promise Johnny’s been holding onto ever since.

 

*

 

“There are stories about men who become so obsessed with lust demons, you know.” Doyoung flicks through the book, perched across Taeil’s desk with his feet on his chair. “They say they go crazy, can’t do anything but spend day after day in bed until they starve away to nothing. They get found as nothing but a sack of skin and bones, in the end.”

 

Johnny makes a non-committal noise, reading more about ancient demonic languages. Maybe there’s a spell he can use that would summon him. He can’t risk opening the door again – he’s not that stupid – but Ten was able to cross over without it before. Maybe there’s a way he can use.

 

“Then there are those that die from the exertion. Just die in their sleep, as if they’re old and wrinkly when they’re still in the prime of their youth. Too much sex, eh?” Doyoung whistles. “What a way to go.”

 

Johnny’s eyes follow the line of his finger, concentrating on the words. Doyoung’s teasing doesn’t bother him; he knows he’s obsessive about this. But no one has ever come into his life the way Ten did, connecting with him down to his very soul. It was more that just sex, the connection they had shared, but he doesn’t know how to explain that so he doesn’t try.

 

The door opens and Taeil potters in, slapping Doyoung with his satchel until he hops off his desk, grumbling. “I got you that book you wanted, Johnny,” he says, pulling out a huge leather bound tome from the bag and dropping it onto the desk with a _thud_. “Apparently Taeyong’s student found this in a German library.”

 

“No wonder it was so heavy,” Doyoung says, rubbing his shoulders.

 

Johnny stares at the cover. _Summoning noble demons,_ he reads on the post-it note stuck to the front, his heart quickening. With shaking fingers, he pulls it open, scanning the contents for what he wants. The rest of the room fades away, his phone in one hand as he attempts to translate the German into Korean, a lump lodged in his throat.

 

Suddenly he stands, Taeil and Doyoung standing with him. “I’ve got to go,” he says. And then he’s running. Running and running and running until he’s jumping onto the subway car, breathing hard. His hands squeeze the bar as he counts the stops, time crawl by achingly fast. As soon as the doors ping open at his stop he’s running once more, feet thudding against the pavement as he thunders all the way home, heedless of the looks he receives from passers-by.

 

Johnny runs with the tome clutched between his slick hands. He’s going to bring Ten home.

 

*

 

 _Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul,_ he thinks as he lies in bed, completely clothed. _Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul._ Over and over and over until he finally drifts off to the land of dreams. It’s still echoing through his mind even as he loses consciousness, the only anchor tethering him down from drifting away. Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul. Ten.

 

Ten had been human once. Before they became what they were, noble demons had been human. Ten had been amongst the more infamous demons described in the book – the sensuous, hypnotic lust demon had once been a dancer for an ancient Thai prince before he had been murdered in a fit of rage and jealousy by the prince’s lover, angry over the prince’s captivation with the young dancer.

 

That boy’s real name had been Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul and he had become the demon now known as Ten.

 

A pounding drumbeat starts from nowhere, a spark of flame lighting up the darkness. A lute plays an entrancing melody, hands clapping and feet stamping to the beat. Then suddenly there is a lithe form spinning like water, his beautiful silken robes spilling around him and enhancing every movement. Between folds of fabric two dark eyes meet his and the dancer stutters to a stop. The flame crackles between them, smoke rising into the night.

 

“It’s me. Ten, it’s me.”

 

Ten looks around him, shaking his head. He looks impossibly young, eyes wide and fearful. “No. No, this is an illusion. Brother, stop this. I do not wish to play your games any longer.”

 

“Ten. Chittaphon. It’s me. It’s Johnny.”

 

“Johnny?” Ten takes a step forward, pulling the veil from his face so that Johnny can drink in his sharp, feline features, heart aching with want. Two silver earrings dangle from his lobes, beset with rubies.

 

“I’m here. I’m here to take you back with me.”

 

“You found me,” Ten breathes, eyes filled with wonder Johnny does not deserve. “You found me,” he says again, and a cry tears from his chest before he’s running and launching himself into Johnny’s arms. The solid weight of him startles him awake, and he can hardly believe that Ten is here, tight in his arms in his bedroom exactly where he’s supposed to be.

 

A single tear runs down Ten’s cheek and Johnny catches it with his thumb, taking in the wide, red-rimmed eyes, the softly parted lips and the musky scent of him. Ten is here and he’s real and Johnny’s never going to let him go again.

 

“You found me,” Ten says again, hands clutching his shirt as if he feels the same way.

 

“We made a promise, didn’t we?”

 

Ten tilts his head, blinking.

 

Johnny cradles his jaw, bringing their lips together. Between kisses he says, “Let’s be not lonely together.”

 

Ten chuckles, rich and dark, and pulls him down closer.

 

On his nightstand the tome given to him by Taeil is cracked open on the last page he read, the yellow sticky note marking the most important chapter of the whole book. The first line reads in German: _To summon a noble demon one must know its true name._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!


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